Plans Afoot To Make Farmington's Town Center More Pedestrian-Friendly

Brad Horrigan / Hartford Courant

Kevin Kaniewski, center, 7, of Bristol, watches his cousin, Ryan Zambrzycki, 11, right, play chess against Brian Wlodkowski, left, 11, at the Farmington Public Library in July 2015. Ryan and Brian both live in Farmington.

Kevin Kaniewski, center, 7, of Bristol, watches his cousin, Ryan Zambrzycki, 11, right, play chess against Brian Wlodkowski, left, 11, at the Farmington Public Library in July 2015. Ryan and Brian both live in Farmington.

(Brad Horrigan / Hartford Courant)

JOSEPH A. O'BRIEN JR.

What Farmington Valley town has everything and soon will have more?

There are many social and economic pluses to be found in Farmington, but a pedestrian-friendly town center featuring shops and restaurants within easy walking distance of residences is not among them.

But that may be changing.

This spring, the state Department of Transportation is scheduled to begin a $10.7 million reconstruction of a nearly 2,300-foot stretch of Route 4, aka Farmington Avenue, in the town's historic center village. The project dovetails nicely with the town's desire to spruce up the Route 4 gateway and make it more attractive for commercial and residential development.

The road project includes construction of so-called "Backage Road" on the north side of Route 4 to accommodate several village center businesses whose driveway-access to Route 4 will be cut off by the project. This road would also enhance other development opportunities in the area.

The reconstruction of Route 4 between Garden Street and Mountain Spring Road, which will include new left-turn lanes for eastbound and westbound motor vehicles at Route 10, is intended to reduce the traffic jams that occur most weekdays in the village, especially around the morning and evening rush hours. Officials hope that the addition of Backage Road will also encourage more residential and commercial development in the area, similar to that of Blue Back Square in nearby West Hartford.

This stretch of Route 4 within Farmington Village Center, which includes the "crazy corner," a tight, right-angle curve at the former site of Parsons Chevrolet car dealership, has been a point of contention between local historic preservationists and state highway designers for years. Each morning, Route 4 collects commuter traffic from a wide area of Litchfield County in the state's northwest corner and eventually funnels it through a single, eastbound lane in Farmington Village at the approach to the corner. At the corner, a second eastbound lane emerges to carry the traffic east toward I-84 and Greater Hartford area.

Cynthia Cagenello / UGC

Hill-Stead Museum's West Facade is abloom with plants in preparation for one of its annual May Market Garden & Crafts Event.

Hill-Stead Museum's West Facade is abloom with plants in preparation for one of its annual May Market Garden & Crafts Event.

(Cynthia Cagenello / UGC)

In the evening, the heavy flow of traffic — which in 2012 averaged 28,200 cars daily on Route 4 — reverses, with westbound travelers experiencing the single-lane effect approaching the "crazy corner" and through to intersection with Route 10, which is known locally as Main Street south of the intersection and Waterville Road north of it. Traffic volume along Route 4 in the village peaked in 2006 when it reached a daily average of 32,500.

Familiar landmarks on the north side of Route 4 in the village include the Farmington Country Club, several wood-frame and brick commercial buildings that house a hypnotherapy business, Cthypnotherapy.com, Nuance hair salon and day spa and the office of John Herman Real Estate all east of Route 10. To the west of Route 10 (Waterville Road) is the Epicure Shopping Center whose tenants include a Starbucks Coffee, Monarch Jewelers, M&R Liquors, and Naples Pizza.

On the south side of Route 4, just east of Epicure but still west of Route 10, is The Farmington Inn and an Italian restaurant named Piccolo Arancio, and at the corner is The Corner House, now home to Wells Fargo Advisors. East of Route 10 is a relatively modern, single-story building that houses a Bank of America Financial Center. Small local businesses further east in separate, single-story buildings include are a dentist's office, Truffles Bakery & Kitchen and the side of Farmington Frame, a custom framing business that actually at 2 High St. High Street intersects Route 4 at the "crazy corner."

This hodgepodge of businesses scattered in an area that still encompasses a number of historically significant building along Route 4 has done little in the way of giving the area "a sense of place," according to planners with Dodson & Flinker Inc., and Mullin Associates Inc., which were hired by the town to develop a conceptual plan for the future of Farmington Center.

Residents involved in the study stress the importance of preserving the historic character of the roughly 39-acre Farmington Center Gateway District that lies along both sides of Route 4 from the Farmington River to the west and Mountain Spring Road to the east. Seven buildings in the area are on the Connecticut Register of Historical Buildings, but only two, the Elm Tree Inn at 792 Farmington Ave. and the North-Frost Blacksmith Shop at 772 Farmington Ave., are protected by the Farmington Center Historic District Commission. The five other structures, including the Farmington Country Club that was built in 1901 were not included in the historic district.

A 2014 study of the area's potential examined the town's strengths and weaknesses as they related to establishing a development zone within the loosely established confines of Farmington Center, which extends north and south of Route 4 along various small streets, but primarily runs along a very pleasant Main Street into the Town Center Historic District and, to a lesser degree, along Waterville Road.

Outside of the town center problems, the positives of the are a low crime rate, low taxes, an affluent and educated population, proximity to I-84 and Bradley International Airport and the two-hour drive time to either Boston or New York City. The housing stock ranges from "affordable to very high end." Farmington is among the four designated "Bicycle Friendly" communities in Connecticut. There are thousands of acres of open space lands and multi-use trails along the Farmington River.

Rick Hartford | Hartford Courant File Photo

The library at Tunxis Community College in Farmington.

The library at Tunxis Community College in Farmington.

(Rick Hartford | Hartford Courant File Photo)

Then there's the University of Connecticut Health Center and the emerging bio-technology corridor, which includes Jackson Laboratory's $135-million, state funded genomics research center on the heath center's campus. The facility opened here in 2014 with the mission of developing individualized treatments for cancers, diabetes and other diseases.

Then there are cultural venues, including the Hill-Stead Museum, the Stanley Whitman House and the Unionville Museum, which was established in 1984 in the one-story, library building built in 1917 on School Street in Unionville with $8,500 donated by the wealthy Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie.

Miss Porter's School, a private collegiate preparatory school for girls that was established in 1843, according to the study, "adds a level of dignity and sophistication as well."